By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News Sports Editor

LOGAN — At first, Logan coach Dale Amyx wasn’t overly keen on the idea of playing a third football scrimmage.

But as his Chiefs warmed to the task in the second quarter of Friday night’s inaugural Ohio High School Athletic Association “Jamboree” game Friday night in Logan Chieftain Stadium, he admitted that he started liking the idea more and more.

The Chieftains scored 31 points in less than eight minutes of the second quarter to secure a 31-21 exhibition victory over the Generals.
“I was apprehensive about playing a game like this at first,” he admitted afterward, “but it was really good for situation-type stuff that will help us next week. It helped us make substitutions and make adjustments on the field and got us playing in front of a crowd and the band.”

It was a final dress rehearsal of sorts for both teams. Sheridan, however, wore white practice jerseys on which not all the uniform numbers matched its roster.

It was the Chiefs’ final scrimmage in preparation for their season opener next Friday at Lancaster. Same for the Generals, who begin their 2009 season next Saturday afternoon at Bellaire.

The Chiefs sputtered a bit early. Senior quarterback Patrick Angle threw an interception on the second play of the game; the Purple & White lost a fumble after driving 15 plays from their own 24-yard line to the Sheridan 5 on the next series, then were forced to punt on their third series early in the second stanza.

But that’s when Logan’s high-octane offense kicked into gear.

Angle teamed up with his step-brother, fellow senior Mason Mays, on a beautiful 50-yard touchdown spiral over the middle with 8:13 left to open the scoring.

After Sheridan fumbled the ball away on its own 37-yard line — the first of four fumbles (five total turnovers) the Generals lost on the evening — the Chiefs and Angle went into a hurry-up offense and completed four straight passes, to three different receivers, with Mays taking the latter pass play down to the Sheridan 1. Angle scored on a keeper on the next play with 6:15 remaining in the half.

Another Sheridan fumble put the Chiefs in business at the SHS 45. On third down, Angle connected with senior Jordan Rutter, who made a stellar catch and ran the ball down to the 1-yard line, and senior Zach McDaniel eventually scored on a plunge with 3:17 left in the half.

Just 16 seconds later, senior Michael Snider picked up a Sheridan fumble and rumbled 29 yards to paydirt to make it 28-0 with 3:01 to play in the half — 28 points in just 5:12 of game time.

Junior Derek Montgomery, who converted all four extra-point kicks, then capped off the 31-point second stanza by drilling a 45-yard field goal — which would have been good from 55 yards — with 27 seconds to play in the half.

Had it been a regular-season game, Montgomery, the goal keeper on Logan’s soccer team, would have been two yards short of Josh Jackson’s school-record 47-yard field goal in 1991.

“I thought it was a good workout for both teams,” Amyx said. “Paul (Sheridan coach Paul Culver) has a young team and I’m sure he’s a little disappointed, but I’m sure it helped them, too.

“I was pleased with some guys on the defensive line like Tyler Dement, who put a foot forward,” he added. “T.J. McCray did a good job at tackle and Brandon Graham came in and did a nice job at defensive end and in nickel.”

Angle was a pedestrian 5-of-11 for 54 yards to open the game. But he was an amazing 12-of-15 after that — completing 10 consecutive passes at one point — and throwing for 197 yards in the second quarter alone. He finished 17-26-1 for 251 yards and one touchdown.

“Pat did what was expected of Pat tonight,” Amyx said, “and our receivers did a great job catching the ball.”

Indeed, the Logan offense looked in mid-season form when it was first string vs. first string. Logan only played its offensive starters the first half and piled up 269 yards of total offense and 12 first downs in that time. Sheridan managed just 74 yards in the first half.

For the game, Logan finished with 329 total yards — 255 passing and 74 rushing — while Sheridan finished 142-137—279, making up a lot of that ground in the second half.

Mays caught seven passes for 119 yards, Rutter four for 80, McDaniel four for 28 and senior Ryan Sigler two for 24. The four featured receivers in Logan’s spread offense had just as good of a night as their quarterback.

Sheridan scored 21 second-half points to make the final score a little more respectable.

The full four-quarter game was played under regular game conditions with the exception of no kickoffs by either team.

At least a thousand fans turned out for Friday’s scrimmage, which was one of about 100 such OHSAA “Jamboree” games played around the state this week.

Last spring, the OHSAA permitted schools to schedule a third pre-season contest — a game played in accordance with National Federation of State High School Associations playing rules — to help defray the costs of providing catastrophic accident insurance coverage.

Schools such as Logan sponsoring a Jamboree contribute a portion of the income to the OHSAA toward those insurance costs.

The OHSAA says catastrophic accident insurance provides coverage for more than 300,000 Ohio interscholastic athletes in the event of a catastrophic injury (medical bills exceeding $25,000). The annual cost of the insurance is $700,000.

Logan paid Sheridan’s $250 share of the catastrophic accident insurance coverage fee for taking part. The Chiefs will more than likely return the favor next season by visiting Thornville to play the Generals in a 2010 “Jamboree” game.